Thursday, April 26, 2007

Our Friend Summerset, of Pins and Needles fame is competing this weekend in the garment category at the American Quilt Society show in Paducah KY. She's showing "American Beauty", go take a look at her blog to see pictures.ANYWAY...she flew into St Louis today, and we met for some quality fabric shopping time, then grabbed a bite to eat, before she took off to drive to Paducah.Turns out she was competing at the Threads competition and I saw her walk the runway in Novi MI back in 2005. Small world.

To get an idea how tiny Summerset really is, or conversely, how NOT SMALL I am, take a look. We got one of the saleshelp to take our pic together at the store this afternoon. Note that she is wearing a top made from fabric from Gorgeous Things, and I'm wearing the Chanel style jacket that is part of my SWAP.

Maybe it's just that I'm over-saturated with Carrib Blue from sewing with it for so long - but ... I'm sorry, this just holds No appeal as cookware. And I LOVE Le Creuset.

One More Piece

ya ya, that's what they all say.well, one more piece, then I"m going on fabric moratorium for a long while.and it's between 2.I'm thinking a jacket piece - for the fall.And it's between the wool denim in indigo blue available at Gorgeous Things (click on highlighted phrase to get to her website to see fabric)

or a piece of brown/black cashmere from Michaels Fabrics, a piece not on the website, therefore Not on Sale - of course.What do you think? And DO NOT SAY BOTH!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

embellishment.I have the wildest desire to get to work on something really intricate and involved...don't know what yet, but I'm collecting idea photos and mulling things over while I work on the seemingly mundane. Ideas are percolating, nothing has gelled. I'll post some inspiration pics later.

Meanwhile, have any desire to see the guts of a maternity formal?The order: Create a formal - 2 layers of silk chiffon over a silk lining, in a halter style, that doesn't look like maternity wear, for a woman who's 7 1/2 months pregnant.Sure.I told her that halter most likely wasn't going to happen, but we could work with an open back and a bodice style in front that is reminiscent of a halter.oh, step3: be able to modify it later for regular wear.

The dress before back seam was stitched: to modify for later I will remove the center front, side front, and extra side panels, and replace with fabric kept in reserve for this purpose.The challenge, after the 2nd fitting, was to bring the midriff section back in under the bust, without pulling the back around, and make it look good. The muslin section there is the space I needed to fill. That blue line across the muslin is just the extra from the selvage tape used to stabilize the side of the front bodice. it got attached at the side seam when all else was finished.Note: I built bra cups into the bodice.

What I ended up doing was creating a shirred piece of chiffon by couching elastic cord and drawing up to 50% of its original width, then inserting that in the side seam. It worked beautifully. Then I narrowed the midriff band so that it followed the line under the bustline at about 1.5" all along, and stitched a clear elastic to the seam allowance inside just to make sure it stayed close to the body.

She loved it, it fit beautifully, and I was pleased. When she looked in the mirror she was so happy "It doesn't even look like maternity" was what she exclaimed.Hopefully she sends me pictures from the wedding.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Finally, the Timmel SWAP wardrobe is done, and Julie is putting up the collections today for voting. so now I'll upload my entry here. Click on the highlighted words Timmel SWAP above to go to the link to see everyones collections.Re my collection:More info on each garment will be forthcoming. Today you just get the collages.Date started: January 2007, date completed April 8.

Truth: I've been gaining weight - and it shows the very worst in the purple lace dress. I will retake pics next month on this dress - I love the dress, hate how tight it is.The silk check dress is really purple, turquoise and green in the checks, however the light bouncing off the silk does weird things to the color in the photos. I'm now in the market for a belt for the check dress. I'm thinking 1" wide leather, hopefully lavender.

To vote you must be a registered member of Stitchers Guild, which I think is fine, because this is as much about the sewing as it is anything, and that is the sewing site.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I have found this jacket, by John Galliano for Dior, intriguing since I first saw it in the magazine Town and Country. It is available, at Dior boutiques, retail - a cool $4190. So, If I am to own this lovely, I must make it. However, what fabric?Well, SawyerBrook just put this on their website, at an affordable price. I've seen this fabric locally, it is every bit as pretty as it is in the picture, and the tiny matelasse texture is perfect, however, locally it is $44.95 / yd.Do I Need it? Non, mes amies. But, has it ever been a question of need?

Monday, April 02, 2007

Maternity formal (silk chiffon over rayon slipdress), muslin due this week, final finished due April 10.

pattern alterations for sheath dress - this week - easy peasy

Prom dress - due before end of April.

Self-imposed deadlines: SWAP due end of this week. Finis. Ohhh Myyy Looord, I don't know if I'm going to make it.

Right now (all weekend) I've been dinking around with this dress, in the infamous words of Tim Gunn, "making it work"Its an old OOP Vogue pattern, Yves St Laurent design, and in order to make it work on a real human body, a fair amount of real-time draping is needed. If I were making this for someone else - No Problem. For me, this is problematic. I'm going to need to schedule an appointment time with I. or H. to have one of them fold the fronts and backs into those rings before I stitch them down permanently.The shape of the skirt is fun - a tulip created by tucks and pleats. But this was probably not the best choice for the end of SWAP substitution. A Lot of work.As you can see, I've got the hem pinned - need to hand stitch that, then, for all intents and purposes it's done, except I really need help - maybe I can adjust that fit myself by using snap closures rather than sewing it permanently by hand.Dh tried - he loves the dress on me - but he is really not adept at fitting.

Meanwhile, go visit TanyShe's getting started on a Trench Dress. (she's a lot younger than me ;)I love love love this one by Burberry . Lots of discussions lately on the sewing boards about age-appropriate dressing. So I'm wondering, what are your opinions on this? Too young for a 50-something?